•  Nature: characteristics that are genetically inherited
• Nurture: characteristics that are acquired from one's environment
  • learnings
  • surroundings
  • personal experiences
• "Nativists"
  • Believe that one's personality and cognitive abilities are hereditary and predetermined (nature)
  • Believe each person's unique qualities are a product of their genes
  • Believe that behavioral, intellectual, and emotional changes shown later in life are a result of individual "maturity," not influence from the environment
    • Refer to an inner "biological clock"
    • Believe maturation controls everything
• "Environmentalists"/"empiricists"
  • Believe humans begin as a blank slate but acquire traits as they are exposed to the environment
  • Believe language = speech imitation, that it isn't pre-wired into an infant's brain
  • Believe learning environment dictates how someone acts, thinks, and feels
  • Believe emotional attachment is a result of love and attention, not from natural habits
• The argument
  • Few facts to back up either point of view
  • It is believed the question is not "Which one?" but "How much of each?"
    • In fact, many argue that individual percentages vary. For one it may be 40% nature and 60% nurture, but for another it may be vice versa
• Nature ideology in history
  • Nazi Germany and racial purity
  • Belief that minorities were born inferior to majorities (such as African-Americans to whites)

• Categorizing someone as either good or evil is not black and white, almost all fall in a gray area in between. 'Good' people are not purely good, and 'bad' people are not solely evil
  • 'Evil' people can, essentially, be rehabilitated and show 'good' characteristics after time
    • i.e. benevolence and empathic understanding
• History has shown that the 'good' people believe that there are 'evil' others that must be destroyed, resulting in arguments and war
  • Personal comment: Driving out the 'bad' with no remorse doesn't exactly make them good, does it?
• Cruel or 'bad' behavior has often been found to be a result of one's environment, not genetics
  • Most believe nurture causes 'evil' people to show 'evil' traits
• The definition of good
  • A lack of self-indulgence
  • Prioritizing others' needs before one's own
  • Sacrificing one's comforts to protect others'
  • Showing the ability to form mutual understanding and empathy towards others
  • Accepting all humans, despite appearance, deficiencies, race, and gender
• Examples of 'good' people in history who fit the above criteria
  • Martin Luther King (Jr.)
  • Mahatma Gandhi
• The definition of evil
  • Self-centeredness
  • Prioritizing one's own needs before others'
  • Cannot empathize or form an understanding with others
  • Keeping their own comforts is thought of as more important than sacrificing them for others
  • Cannot accept all humans, instead discriminates against others because their appearance, abilities, race, or gender is different from their own
• Examples of 'evil' people in history who fit the above criteria
  • Adolf Hitler
  • Joseph Stalin
  • Serial killers
  • These, among with Gandhi and King are extremes. Almost all fall somewhere in between these 'angelic' and 'wicked' identities

• Nature = all of the genes and hereditary factors that influence who we are – physical appearance and  personality traits (genetics)
• Nurture = environmental variables that impact personality – early childhood experiences, how we were raised, friends, and culture
• philosophers such as Plato and Descartes say that most traits are inevitable, regardless of environmental influences
• Nativists say that all/most behaviors/characteristics are inhereted 
• Empiricists say that all/most behaviors/characteristics are learned
• Examples of biologically determined characteristics (nature) include certain genetic diseases, eye color, hair color, and skin color
• Other things like life expectancy and height have a strong biological component, but are also influenced by environmental factors and lifestyle
• most experts believe that both nature and nurture influence behavior and development, but it is still contraversial in many areas such as in the debate on the origins of homosexuality and intelligence

• debated whether we have a  good nature that is corrupted by society, or a bad nature that is kept in check by society
• Babies are perfect to look at nature vs nurture
  • Absolute minimum cultural influence – no friends, no school, no books
  • Minds are as innocent as possible
  • lack of language makes in hard to get info on them
  • however, they reach for things they want or like, and they will tend to look longer at things that surprise them

• wondering whether psychological characteristics like behavior, personality traits, and mental abilities are genetic, just like physical traits
• Examples of an extreme nature positions in psychology
  •  Bowlby's theory of attachment- the bond between mother and child is a process that ensures survival
  • Chomsky- language is gained through the use of an innate language acquisition device
• growing realization that the question of “how much” behavior is due to heredity and “how much” to the environment may itself be the wrong question
• For example, intelligence- nature and nurture contribute in different ways both important
• The Human Genome Project- tracing types of behavior to particular strands of DNA located on specific chromosomes
  • Newspaper reports announce that scientists are on the verge of discovering (or have already discovered) the gene for criminality, for alcoholism or the “gay gene”
  • 
    

• Nature = genes/hereditary factors that influence somebody (physically, personality wise_
• Nurture = environmental factors that influence somebody (early childhood, how they are raised, social lives, culture)
• It’s very controversial even among respected psychologists whether nature or nurture has the biggest influence (biological psychology vs behaviorism)
• Nativists:
• Have the view that every behavior is due to evolution and genetics
• Empiricists
• “Tabula rasa” (John Locke) means your brain is a blank slate at birth and your whole personality and behaviors are shaped by how you grow up
• They believe anybody can turn out to be anything as long as they grow up in the right condition 
• Part of the debate is how much of a negative or positive behavior is due to nature vs nurture (what explains academic excellence or violent tendencies)
• Some things are nature or nurture (for example, finding perfect pitch by ear can be genetic, but that isn’t the only way to have the trait)
• Most people believe both have a strong influence on people, but don’t know which has the stronger influence

• The average person releases a chemical called Oxytocin in their brain when they have a positive social signal 
• Many people with traits of psychopaths or people who are psychopaths do not release it when they are faced with such a signal
• Traits of a psychopath include being charming, greedy, and deceptive, even to themselves
• People with little Oxytocin (psychopaths) often have little regard for other’s safety and wellbeing 
• Psychopaths are loners, stuck in survival mode
• This is similar to people who were abused as children, as the circuit for Oxytocin does not develop properly, impairing their social skills
• Stress lowers Oxytocin release and not at our bests, but this is permanent for psychopaths

Nature vs Nurture in Psychology

• The nature vs nurture debate is a spectrum
• Starting with the nature side, there is a biological approach to psychology
  • This explains behavior with genes, hormones, and neurochemicals
• Next is psychoanalysis
  • This says some things are nature and some are nurture
• Cognitive psychology
  • Says mental structures are constantly shaped by one’s surroundings
• Humanism
  • Says that society influences somebody’s self concept (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs)
• Behaviorism, the approach most influenced by nurture
  • All behavior is learned through conditioning in the environment
• Environmentalist is another term for empiricist
• Very few people take extreme positions on either side in practice because there is too much evidence for both, meaning both sides are right
• Eugenics came from people who thought nature alone influenced a person, which made them sterilize people they saw as unfavorable and encourage others to breed
• Sometimes the debate becomes political or prejudiced
• People are realizing nature or nurture can not be assigned to a certain trait because they work together
• In psychopathology, researchers say that both genetic predisposition and a trigger in the environment are needed to develop a mental disorder 

•  States that our behaviors and personalities are already pre-programmed in our genetics
•  Due to the fact that our genes influence our physical appearence, why can’t they influence our emotional attributes?

• Claims that the environment we live in is the true influencing factor on our behaviors
• That our personalities can be influenced by family and friends, and the social environment around u

• Nature is thought to be the behaviors wired into you, and nurture is the environment’s effects on your actions, behaviors, and personality 
• It’s a long standing debate wether or not our personalities are pre-programmed, much like our hair color, eye color, and other physical traits
• This is the nature side of the argument 
• It is also thought that if a person grows up in a harsh environment, their personality may alter, this is just one example of the nurture side of the debate 

• Nature=genetic and cannot be changed
• Maes people ask questions like whether or not their IQ is fixed and predetermined
• Many researchers have found certain genes that are often found with a group of people like smokers or people with cancer

• Someone in very good shape had heart attack (“runs” in family)
• Healthy lifestyle only means the heart disease will happen later

• Nature (genetically) affects mental health
• Learned to have psychopathic mind but brought up in loving environment
• Both childhood abuse or trauma and former problems with a family are major causes of mental health issues
• Studies done show genes affect personality
• Theory that they must work together or that one triggers the other

• Child’s attachment formed by love originally given
• On the flip, the attachment is genetically formed as a species’ way of survival
• Aggression learnt through observation/imitation
• Smart running in family = “natural superiority” testing proven this
• Some believe behavioral traits can be improved or seen more often through breeding
• Connecting to holocaust, IQ affected by life, many children born in ghettos or shortly before ghettos scored lower on tests because they did not get the same experiences
• Some newspapers claim that scientists have found new genes like the “gay gene” or one for alcoholism

• Nature = genetics
• Nurture = environment
• They affect different things in a species such as behaviors or physical traits

• Usually the way they are brought up
• Past experiences (trauma)
• Some scientists believe it to be genetics

• Environmental variables impact who a person is
• Early childhood experiences
• How someone was raised
• Social relationships
• Culture
• The behavior of a person can be from parenting styles and experiences

• Think all or most behavior and characteristics are inherited
• Genetic traits from parents influence the person and makes them special
• Language acquisition device
• Children are born with mental capacity
• Allows them to learn and speak languages

• Think all or most behaviors and characteristics come from learning
• People could be trained to become something
• Didn’t matter about their background

• Genetic diseases, eye color, hair color, life expectancy, and height

• Nature and nurture influence the behavior and development of people

• People can have good and bad qualities 
• Cruel and brutal behavior is from environmental factors
• Abusive childhood or learning from others

• Lack of self-centeredness
• Empathise with others, feel compassion, put other's needs before yours, sacrifice yourself for others
• Examples
• Ghandi and Martin Luther King
• Risked own safety for gaining equal rights for Indians and African Americans

• Can’t empathise with others
• Own needs are more important
• Selfish, self-absorbed, and narcissistic 
• Examples
• Stalin, Hitler, killers, rapists 
• Can’t sense other people’s emotions or suffering
• See from their perspective
• Don’t know their own rights

• Offenders are able to meet victims
• See how they were affected
• Leads to empathy for the victims
• Turns into rehab for offender

• Factor in development of some mental health conditions
• Schizophrenia, bipolar, and depression
• Identical Twins
• Share genes
• If one twin develops a disease then the other twin has 50% chance of developing it too
• Nature not only contributing factor
• Alcohol addiction
• Can recur in families
• Certain genes can change the way alcohol tastes and have an effect on the body

• Life events and experiences
• Childhood bullying, abuse or other trauma
• Supports idea of nurture’s role

• Twins being separated play a role in the development of characteristics
• Environment had little effect on personality when raised together
• Had effect when raised apart

• Some genes can’t be activated without environment
• Vision
• Can’t develop normal eyesight without exposure